Kevin Bronson on July 5th, 2011

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On Summer Darling’s self-titled album, released one year ago this week, the L.A. quartet wound prickly guitars and passionate lyrics into powder-keg indie-rock that seemed loosed from the ’90s. If flashbacks to the darned-near-mathematical precision of bands such as Cursive and Braid weren’t reward enough, Summer Darling exuded a working-class, no-frills aesthetic that ran counter to today’s gimmick-a-minute indie scene. And resolute they remain in their new video for “Son,” directed by Tuan Quoc Le and Casey Levental and filmed on a downtown L.A. rooftop: A band seemingly dropped from the sky, making it hurt and then making it pretty, sounding as if they’re vaguely pissed the Strokes even happened. If you need to jog your memory, their album’s still available for free. Although they might just crack a smile if they saw you walking through Echo Park with a slab of vinyl.

||| Live: Summer Darling plays July 31 at Promenade Square Park in Long Beach and Aug. 5 at the Satellite.